Culturally Sensitive Communication in Healthcare (a Case study of therapeutic communication between doctor-patient and family in Sundanese region)

Research on sensitive cultural communication in health services never runs out of topics, and there is always something exciting to study. One of the fascinating researches focuses on uncovering therapeutic communication between doctors, patients, and families in West Java, a place where the second largest ethnic group in Indonesia resides with a variety of cultural sensitivity in the health sector. The purpose of this study is to identify and explore the sensitive cultural aspects, which is hampering therapeutic communication between doctors, patients, and their families that cause misunderstanding between them while finding solutions to overcome them. The theory used in this research is the therapeutic communication theory with concepts and sensitive cultural approaches. The method chosen is a case study with an exploratory approach, which is expected to help explore this problem. The result shows that each culture has differences and its uniqueness, including on sensitive matters and some different individuals' perspectives from different cultures, in the form of myths, pamali, and other restrictions that only apply to a particular culture. A scientific approach can overcome sensitive culture through the competency of doctors or health workers because they are considered to be very adaptive to change, as mandated and regulated by the RI Health Law. This research is expected to help health workers, such as doctors, to ready when placed on duty wherever they are needed.